The Following Words of Exhortation Apply to YOU! In this week’s Parsha we learn of the Command to appoint a King [Devarim 14:15-20]. This is one of 3 mitzvos that became incumbent upon the Jewish people when they entered...
Dear Rabbi and Shira, We truly enjoy reading your weekly column in The Jewish Vues and appreciate the balanced advice you consistently provide. I struggle with the expectation that the man should...
It’s the worst aveirah in the entire Torah - at least according to our mothers and morahs. Bal Tashchis, the prohibition against being wasteful, appears in Parshas Shoftim in the context of proper war etiquette (Devarim 20:19). The...
This week, we read parshas Shoftim. It speaks of the obligation to appoint honest, ethical and moral judges. Recently, I read an article by Eli Albrecht, a DC-based lawyer. He writes of visiting the...
What a difference a word makes! Parshas Re’eh opens on an intense note: There will be blessing for following Hashem’s mitzvos, and a curse for defying them. But there is a discrepancy in how these consequences are presented....
A segulah for parnassah and financial success is to give maasar, 1/10th of one’s earnings, to tzedakah. It states (14:22) aser te’aser, and the Gemara (Taanis 9.) states, aser b’shvil she’tis’asher, “Give maasar so you will become wealthy,” and the miforshim say that this...
How significant is the fire at the AgriStar facility, and how will it affect the kosher community? As you may have heard, this past week the OU Kosher-certified AgriStar facility in...
The Torah in Parashat Re’eh commands us to give charity. It instructs that when there is a person in need, “you shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not feel bad when you give...
It was a beautiful June day several years ago. A friend and I drove to the Catskills to open our summer homes for the season. When I arrived, it looked like the porch had...
David Goldberg bumps into somebody in the street who looks like his old friend Jack. “Jack,” he says. “You’ve put on weight and your hair has turned gray. You seem a few inches shorter than I recall and your...